An endless supply of cigarettes were drawn from shirt pockets and from behind ears. For five hours straight most of my new friends from the local communist party of Tong Jian village were either smoking a cigarette, or lighting up a new one. Our walking tour took us through the low foothills of northern Sichuan province, a mere ten kilometers from the border with Saanxi province. To my surprise, we were a lot further from Chendgu than I had imagined.
Lunch was prepared in typical fashion for party officials hosting a guest. In the known history of Tong Jian village, one other foreigner had passed through. He two was invited to dine around a table packed to the edges with dish after dish of spicy Sichuan food while party officials undoubtedly asked him about his home country. Attempting to direct the conversation toward the degree of known damage to buildings and infrastructure, I was redirected by inquiries by the officials wanting to know if my golden hair and blue eyes meant I was handsome in my home country.
As I continued to assess the village with the Head Chief, the Deputy Head Chief, the Deputy Secretary Chief, the General Deputy Secretary and several other flamboyantly titled men, the kindness of these villagers reminded me of some of the times in Peru and Bangladesh that nearly brought me to tears. Sometimes, a man would rush out of a bush or from a construction site in tattered and dirty clothes, and began distributing cigarettes from his own shirt pocket to the party officials and often tried to give me two. Trying to explain that I don’t smoke was a foreign concept here. But so was my golden hair…I had the same thoughts I have had many times at HODR projects, that is, how can these people be so generous and seemingly so content with their lives when they live in such poor conditions? It has been easy to get caught up in city life again since we are based in Chengdu, but being reminded yet again that where life is simple, it is often sweetest.
A “minpien” (business card) goes a long way in China. A local contact, Peter, who enjoys near celebrity status within the ranks of the NGO that he works for has been helpful in navigating the complexities of working for an NGO in China. The minpien is to be given to the receiver standing up, and with two hands. The information should be facing the receiver. When receiving the minpien, one should receive it standing up, with two hands, slightly lowering your head. This particular detail is easy to master.
We have made over 130 personal contacts, visited 25 potential job sites, contacted 48 different NGOs, businesses and other groups, and 21 government departments, and we’ve held 42 meetings. We still haven’t been able to get to work, and that is due to other complexities a bit more difficult to navigate than giving and receiving a business card.
Quite simply, there is no infrastructure in which NGOs have to work. The government has no infrastructure for dealing with NGOs. One of the 42 organization we have been in contact with, Heart to Heart has worked in China for over 10 years. It took them 10 years to build up the necessary trust and relationship with the right government officials in order for them to receive official permission to operate in China. In addition, Heart to Heart has a healthy budget of several million dollars, and supplies professional doctors where they are in need. The wind would appear to be at their back. Not in China. Instead, Heart to Heart has packed up and gone home after a month of service in the quake area. This is not an easy NGO environment for even the most established.
In contast to H2H’s apparent solid foundation almost all Chinese NGOs are both new and unofficial themselves. Some had preexisting government connections which have allowed an increased ability to operate, many are still building these relationships themselves. I realize that it is a big ask to expect a Chinese organization or business to stick its neck out, risking its own connections and authority to operate to let us piggy back on those relationships to do our work. We have often been able to establish very good relations with a Chinese NGO or foundation, but when it comes to the small (but important) realities of operating, many back away. We need a local partner to help us get the proper paperwork for even the simplest of situations. A simple example is the police road blocks around the disaster area. They are random and sporadic, but none the less, they are there. An official road pass is needed to pass these blocks, especially as foreigners. On occasion, the officer is too busy sending a text message to pay close attention, but we have been stopped and told to return to Chengdu a number of times. Do not pass Go, definitely do not collect 200.
The problem is, even those individuals or organizations that have road passes don’t really know how they have them, or who to talk to in order to get one. If we are lucky enough to get a name and number of some gov’t official, the official is quick to pass us off to another official, often in a different city, with no relationship to the official we had originally been speaking to. The normal response is that “we don’t have the authority to make these kinds of decisions.” We’ve also spent days “official chasing” in person. The reaction is usually the same, they listen blankly while we talk about our work, then pass us on to someone else who has no authority either. Officials seem to think that they are imparting valuable knowledge on where we can get permission by suggesting that we contact the Sichuan Foreign Affairs department. When we explain that we have contacted that department in person, by phone, by fax and by email and again, we are told that they do not have the ability to make these decisions, they just drop their eyes to the ground and say that we should contact the Sichuan F.A department.
Cold calling Chinese officials and showing up unannounced at their office or place of work is not the proper way of conducting business here. Despite the fact that this is an incredibly devastating disaster requiring extraordinary actions by everyone involved, most officials are unwilling to step outside the ordinary boundaries of their job. There is a very strong and real fear of doing something wrong, and punishment from above is severe.
Our most robust strategy has been to really develop a relationship with local and national Chinese NGOS and foundations. I believe that they are receptive, willing, and eager NGOs who’s staff are people like myself, that do exist here. The desire to get to work, to apply the resources of the NGO and help people is as strong here as anywhere else. Finding that NGO or that foundation, or that group of businesses takes time. A group that is small enough to understand the realities and difficulties of putting hands to work in the disaster zone, but has the right level of authority to do so, is a rarity. Our most recent round of meetings has lent our most promising connections yet. This week, we had two invitations to spend extended periods of time in the company of partner Chinese NGO’s at their job sites. Both were interested in our ability to apply the HODR model in the communities where they are already semi-established. We thought this might be a breakthrough, but the reality is has been another high point in this assessment followed by the unfortunate low point marked by the reality and the difficulty of NGO work in China.
We have an invitation to install a few of us at the DPC camp in Wudu village and begin our work. We could do that. However, there is always the looming risk that someone from above will come shut down our operation. I don’t believe that DPC or most other NGOS realize the amount of work we are capable of doing by hand and I don’t believe they understand the bond that we ultimately form with the community. I fear that they might fear our presence once we were in full swing. We can slowly slowly grow our presence in Wudu, to the point of possibly declaring it a project. But at what point can we declare it a project? Is it after the first week when there are 6 of us who have worked unhindered for the week? Is it after the second week when there are 10 of us who haven’t yet been stopped by the police? Or is it after the third week when we begin putting volunteers into the kids center and start building a temporary home with 15 volunteers at our base?
I feel that these are the questions and risks that an individual or small group of individuals can take, but can HODR take these risks?
Well in the immediate future, you may find me and a few Chinese friends with some hammers, taking down some homes and building a temp home or two until we get kicked out of the area and asked to leave China.
I hope to see some of you guys in the near future.
John
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Sidelined - Marc
Barcelona, Spain
It was a mad scramble from the airport to the Chinese consulate in Barcelona. I had minimal time to get passport photos taken, find an internet café (to download a copy of my hotel reservation- which hadn’t arrived prior to my flight from Italy), and find the embassy. But, the next thing I knew I was in the queue……waiting, standing on the street for exactly 2hours 20 minutes before I was in front of an official. An official who promptly told me I needed to apply for my visa in my home country. He said that Beijing was constantly changing the guidelines and they could not help me. It mattered not what I said, the answer was “I cannot do here.”
I had complete confidence in Stefanie Chang, who would be first in, and John Hancock who would join her in the first week. Who better to lead the assessment, what better opportunity to follow the HODR model and have them step up into a leadership role. But how difficult it was to be sidelined, not there in the thick of it. A weeklong sail around the Mediterranean with Ian, a HODR alum from Peru and Bangladesh, would have to do.
Boston, MA
So, without a Chinese visa in hand I returned to the USA after having been away for 10 months (again). The plan was for me to use a visa expeditor for my application in Washington, DC whilst I attended our scheduled HODR June meetings. Me-mum met me in Boston and happily the two of us were welcomed at Tom Taylor’s (TTT) house. As much as I wanted to already be in China, it was great to be with the HODR team as the conversation formed ideas helping to shape our organization.
You know those scenes in the movies where the actor seems to stand still and the depth of field of the backdrop changes, almost as if it is rushing forward? Where everything looks roughly the same, but really, everything has changed? That was me in the front room of TTT’s house. I had a phone in my hand and my visa expeditor was on the other end of the line. He was telling me my visa had been rejected! He said, “your employer is H. O. D. R. what is that?” Without waiting for an answer he went on “you see right now it is a very sensitive situation in China” and the rest became a blur of words as my head spun with the implications. Rejected? #@&%, oh S%^&, that’s bad, really bad.
How do you get around that? Sidelined, again (maybe even relegated to an observer watching via youtube!).
David Campbell (DC) and I had daily skype calls with Stef and John and within the first 2 weeks a couple of things became apparent: 1. If we were to operate a HODR program in China the volunteers would be predominately (if not exclusively) Chinese. 2. The only way we could operate would be with approval, on some level, from the government. The first item, personally, took a little time to adjust to. It was hard for me to think of an international deployment without someone from Ireland or the UK or New Zealand or Cameroon or Canada able to join. I could rationalize it out by thinking of our volunteer base in Biloxi consisting of mainly Americans, so it seemed appropriate that an event in China is filled with Chinese. I had numerous conversations with HODR alum and even current volunteers in Project Cedar Rapids and they all felt that it was not an issue. But, I still turned it over and over. The second item was more problematic, access was elusive. Even the ability to determine who could give us permission for access was a mystery. Stef and John had meeting after meeting (unusual style for HODR, but these were unusual circumstances!) and finally hit upon a scheme of partnering with a Chinese NGO that had permission to operate. We would operate under their umbrella thus avoiding the need for a separate approval to be bestowed upon HODR. Seemed easy enough.
In China the team worked at local access and in the USA we pondered my visa issues. We made a trip to a local Chinese restaurant to have them decipher the characters written on my original application. It was here over a yummy dim-sum buffet (acclimatizing?) that we realized I hadn’t been rejected – I just hadn’t been approved! The embassy made a very deft maneuver; they sent my application back with no visa and the explanation was that I needed to apply in my home consular district. This sounds plausible until you talk to the visa experts, who tell you they had never heard of this. The experts say they fulfill applications for all 50 states. We thought the visa bureau had singled me out because I listed my employer as HODR and international disaster response personnel were not needed or wanted in Sichuan. If they want to shuffle me off to someone else – then fine. I will re-apply to my “home consular district” in Chicago. I found a helpful expeditor in based in Chicago and sent my application off with a few changes. 1. I was no longer flying to Chengdu (the largest city near the epicenter) now my flight only took me to Beijing. 2. I no longer had a reservation to stay in Chengdu, now I was booked in at a hostel in Beijing. 3. I no longer was applying for a 1 year multiple entry visa, now it was a 30 day single entry. 4. My employer was listed as Hands On as opposed to HODR (a little more obscure when you do a Google search!). With fingers crossed DC and I continued to skype with Stef and John daily to hear of their efforts.
Palo, Ia
It was a hectic time as I made a quick trip to Project Cedar Rapids where I stumbled around in an unfamiliar environment (USA HODR deployment!) and attempted to be of assistance to Ops Dir. Bill Driscoll, Jr. It is difficult to be in the middle of so much destruction but also moving to be around so many people motivated to help, it is the same world over, disaster after disaster. It was during my 1st 24hours in Palo that I received confirmation of my Chinese visa. Hurray!!! Off the sidelines!
Beijing, China
Stef and John set up a flurry of meetings for my 2 day stay in Beijing and I was fortunate to have Stef join me. We learned in the Philippines that without on the ground experience the meetings are not as productive. Within 2 hours of my flight landing I was meeting with the Director of Social Science Institute at Beijing University, Madame Zhang. It was my introduction to the difficulties faced by Stef and John for the past 2 weeks. In the first 4 minutes it was evident that she was unwilling (or unable, but I think more the prior) to help us, she didn’t even make eye contact (ostrich syndrome?). After a rather futile 30 minutes we excused ourselves and left for a dinner meeting.
Happily, the next two days were filled with great meetings and opportunities for partnerships, so much so that Stef left Beijing 1 day early to join a team on one of their assessments in Sichuan. It was with high spirits that I flew from the country's capital into the hard-hit province of Sichuan (along with the world’s tallest man – who was coincidentally on my flight. At 7’9’’ when he stooped in the aircraft his shoulders touched the ceiling!).
Sichuan, China
The devastation was as complete as any I have seen anywhere. Most of the homes/buildings are made of cement block or brick and the earthquake had been strong enough and long enough to knock almost all of them down. Those that remained were so badly damaged that they were no longer suitable for habitation. It was much like Pisco except not adobe structures and much like Sawit but on a more massive scale. The hillsides suffering from quake driven landslides looked like a huge hand had dragged its fingernails down them to scrape the vegetation away exposing the bare sandy soil underneath The asphalt roads were not too bad, but the more common cement roads were a complete mess, broken, upheaved, and somewhat passable in a bone jarring way. I walked among the residents of Wudu village and was moved by their spirit, their resiliency, their willingness to laugh. They had started to pick themselves up, to act on their own behalf, not waiting for someone to do for them. They had been told they would not receive a placement in a relocation camp, they would instead get 2,000 RMB to build a transitional shelter. They acknowledged that the help we offered had value.
But, the optimism carry over from the Beijing meetings was short lived. The roller-coaster ride that HODR had been on for 5 weeks resumed (I was just added to the car) as the assessment that Stef returned from was another dead-end. The same issues continued to surface even with willing Chinese partners: 1. Local government unwillingness to yield access for our model. 2. Local government unable to see value in our starting point service.
The other observation was………the response of the government.
Again, I have never seen anything like it. It is now 58 days after the event and the government has built 1.64 million (MILLION) temporary housing units! We viewed one prefabricated relocation community that had to contain maybe 6,000 units! But they are not all huge cities on flat open spaces – they were also found in very rural hillside areas, tucked into a recently flattened space accommodating 150 units. The technique is common to China, they house their construction workers and coal miners like this. It is steel framed room with a prefabricated wall and roof of Styrofoam insulation sandwiched between corrugated metal. They have a door and windows and are wired for electricity. They build them in rectangular blocks where they share common sidewalls. The blocks are all laid out with cement walkways, drainage, and communal latrines with running water nearby. You could see the work at various levels of completion, ongoing everywhere. Impressive, mighty impressive.
I had 3 meetings at the village level. At each one of those meetings I was told that the central government had issued a new mandate to “collectivise the homes.” The individual farmers will be moved to central, high-rise, apartment style homes. This would be a better use of the land and would allow the gov’t to have tighter control over the construction techniques used in the rebuilding.
It is not because of the government’s ability to respond, nor its plan to centralize, but because of its proclivity to both welcome assistance and deny it that we have decided to not deploy. We have found an environment that is not conducive for the type of program that HODR can offer. I honestly believe that we can morph a HODR deployment into anything we want it to be. I feel open to the possibility that a HODR deployment may not look like anything we have ever created before, but the at the core there are two things that must exist:
Marc
It was a mad scramble from the airport to the Chinese consulate in Barcelona. I had minimal time to get passport photos taken, find an internet café (to download a copy of my hotel reservation- which hadn’t arrived prior to my flight from Italy), and find the embassy. But, the next thing I knew I was in the queue……waiting, standing on the street for exactly 2hours 20 minutes before I was in front of an official. An official who promptly told me I needed to apply for my visa in my home country. He said that Beijing was constantly changing the guidelines and they could not help me. It mattered not what I said, the answer was “I cannot do here.”
I had complete confidence in Stefanie Chang, who would be first in, and John Hancock who would join her in the first week. Who better to lead the assessment, what better opportunity to follow the HODR model and have them step up into a leadership role. But how difficult it was to be sidelined, not there in the thick of it. A weeklong sail around the Mediterranean with Ian, a HODR alum from Peru and Bangladesh, would have to do.
Boston, MA
So, without a Chinese visa in hand I returned to the USA after having been away for 10 months (again). The plan was for me to use a visa expeditor for my application in Washington, DC whilst I attended our scheduled HODR June meetings. Me-mum met me in Boston and happily the two of us were welcomed at Tom Taylor’s (TTT) house. As much as I wanted to already be in China, it was great to be with the HODR team as the conversation formed ideas helping to shape our organization.
You know those scenes in the movies where the actor seems to stand still and the depth of field of the backdrop changes, almost as if it is rushing forward? Where everything looks roughly the same, but really, everything has changed? That was me in the front room of TTT’s house. I had a phone in my hand and my visa expeditor was on the other end of the line. He was telling me my visa had been rejected! He said, “your employer is H. O. D. R. what is that?” Without waiting for an answer he went on “you see right now it is a very sensitive situation in China” and the rest became a blur of words as my head spun with the implications. Rejected? #@&%, oh S%^&, that’s bad, really bad.
How do you get around that? Sidelined, again (maybe even relegated to an observer watching via youtube!).
David Campbell (DC) and I had daily skype calls with Stef and John and within the first 2 weeks a couple of things became apparent: 1. If we were to operate a HODR program in China the volunteers would be predominately (if not exclusively) Chinese. 2. The only way we could operate would be with approval, on some level, from the government. The first item, personally, took a little time to adjust to. It was hard for me to think of an international deployment without someone from Ireland or the UK or New Zealand or Cameroon or Canada able to join. I could rationalize it out by thinking of our volunteer base in Biloxi consisting of mainly Americans, so it seemed appropriate that an event in China is filled with Chinese. I had numerous conversations with HODR alum and even current volunteers in Project Cedar Rapids and they all felt that it was not an issue. But, I still turned it over and over. The second item was more problematic, access was elusive. Even the ability to determine who could give us permission for access was a mystery. Stef and John had meeting after meeting (unusual style for HODR, but these were unusual circumstances!) and finally hit upon a scheme of partnering with a Chinese NGO that had permission to operate. We would operate under their umbrella thus avoiding the need for a separate approval to be bestowed upon HODR. Seemed easy enough.
In China the team worked at local access and in the USA we pondered my visa issues. We made a trip to a local Chinese restaurant to have them decipher the characters written on my original application. It was here over a yummy dim-sum buffet (acclimatizing?) that we realized I hadn’t been rejected – I just hadn’t been approved! The embassy made a very deft maneuver; they sent my application back with no visa and the explanation was that I needed to apply in my home consular district. This sounds plausible until you talk to the visa experts, who tell you they had never heard of this. The experts say they fulfill applications for all 50 states. We thought the visa bureau had singled me out because I listed my employer as HODR and international disaster response personnel were not needed or wanted in Sichuan. If they want to shuffle me off to someone else – then fine. I will re-apply to my “home consular district” in Chicago. I found a helpful expeditor in based in Chicago and sent my application off with a few changes. 1. I was no longer flying to Chengdu (the largest city near the epicenter) now my flight only took me to Beijing. 2. I no longer had a reservation to stay in Chengdu, now I was booked in at a hostel in Beijing. 3. I no longer was applying for a 1 year multiple entry visa, now it was a 30 day single entry. 4. My employer was listed as Hands On as opposed to HODR (a little more obscure when you do a Google search!). With fingers crossed DC and I continued to skype with Stef and John daily to hear of their efforts.
Palo, Ia
It was a hectic time as I made a quick trip to Project Cedar Rapids where I stumbled around in an unfamiliar environment (USA HODR deployment!) and attempted to be of assistance to Ops Dir. Bill Driscoll, Jr. It is difficult to be in the middle of so much destruction but also moving to be around so many people motivated to help, it is the same world over, disaster after disaster. It was during my 1st 24hours in Palo that I received confirmation of my Chinese visa. Hurray!!! Off the sidelines!
Beijing, China
Stef and John set up a flurry of meetings for my 2 day stay in Beijing and I was fortunate to have Stef join me. We learned in the Philippines that without on the ground experience the meetings are not as productive. Within 2 hours of my flight landing I was meeting with the Director of Social Science Institute at Beijing University, Madame Zhang. It was my introduction to the difficulties faced by Stef and John for the past 2 weeks. In the first 4 minutes it was evident that she was unwilling (or unable, but I think more the prior) to help us, she didn’t even make eye contact (ostrich syndrome?). After a rather futile 30 minutes we excused ourselves and left for a dinner meeting.
Happily, the next two days were filled with great meetings and opportunities for partnerships, so much so that Stef left Beijing 1 day early to join a team on one of their assessments in Sichuan. It was with high spirits that I flew from the country's capital into the hard-hit province of Sichuan (along with the world’s tallest man – who was coincidentally on my flight. At 7’9’’ when he stooped in the aircraft his shoulders touched the ceiling!).
Sichuan, China
The devastation was as complete as any I have seen anywhere. Most of the homes/buildings are made of cement block or brick and the earthquake had been strong enough and long enough to knock almost all of them down. Those that remained were so badly damaged that they were no longer suitable for habitation. It was much like Pisco except not adobe structures and much like Sawit but on a more massive scale. The hillsides suffering from quake driven landslides looked like a huge hand had dragged its fingernails down them to scrape the vegetation away exposing the bare sandy soil underneath The asphalt roads were not too bad, but the more common cement roads were a complete mess, broken, upheaved, and somewhat passable in a bone jarring way. I walked among the residents of Wudu village and was moved by their spirit, their resiliency, their willingness to laugh. They had started to pick themselves up, to act on their own behalf, not waiting for someone to do for them. They had been told they would not receive a placement in a relocation camp, they would instead get 2,000 RMB to build a transitional shelter. They acknowledged that the help we offered had value.
But, the optimism carry over from the Beijing meetings was short lived. The roller-coaster ride that HODR had been on for 5 weeks resumed (I was just added to the car) as the assessment that Stef returned from was another dead-end. The same issues continued to surface even with willing Chinese partners: 1. Local government unwillingness to yield access for our model. 2. Local government unable to see value in our starting point service.
The other observation was………the response of the government.
Again, I have never seen anything like it. It is now 58 days after the event and the government has built 1.64 million (MILLION) temporary housing units! We viewed one prefabricated relocation community that had to contain maybe 6,000 units! But they are not all huge cities on flat open spaces – they were also found in very rural hillside areas, tucked into a recently flattened space accommodating 150 units. The technique is common to China, they house their construction workers and coal miners like this. It is steel framed room with a prefabricated wall and roof of Styrofoam insulation sandwiched between corrugated metal. They have a door and windows and are wired for electricity. They build them in rectangular blocks where they share common sidewalls. The blocks are all laid out with cement walkways, drainage, and communal latrines with running water nearby. You could see the work at various levels of completion, ongoing everywhere. Impressive, mighty impressive.
I had 3 meetings at the village level. At each one of those meetings I was told that the central government had issued a new mandate to “collectivise the homes.” The individual farmers will be moved to central, high-rise, apartment style homes. This would be a better use of the land and would allow the gov’t to have tighter control over the construction techniques used in the rebuilding.
It is not because of the government’s ability to respond, nor its plan to centralize, but because of its proclivity to both welcome assistance and deny it that we have decided to not deploy. We have found an environment that is not conducive for the type of program that HODR can offer. I honestly believe that we can morph a HODR deployment into anything we want it to be. I feel open to the possibility that a HODR deployment may not look like anything we have ever created before, but the at the core there are two things that must exist:
- people in need must be served
- HODR provides a stable platform on which volunteers can perform service
Marc
Saturday, June 28, 2008
China, Iowa, and some other stuff
If you found your way here you're probably interested enough in www.hodr.org to know that we have an active and busy deployment going on in Iowa, with Bill Driscoll providing organizational leadership to benefit multiple towns to get effective use out of dozens of local volunteers.
Marc Young has been stymied for a while, but yesterday (June 27th) received his China visa, and will fly to Beijing Monday AM. He'll spend 2 days or soin Beijing making the rounds of NGO, UNDP, and business contacts that might be informative or helpful, then will head down to Chengdu.
Stefanie Chang and John Hancock have been in Chengdu for several weeks, and through the wonders of Skype Marc and I have been able to do mostly-daily conference calls as they work through many approaches to find the combination of access, need, and authority that might allow us to have an effective project.
Clearly there are sensitive geographic areas, and also some sensitivities re the need/benefit to have outsiders help with the recovery effort. Stay tuned, as I believe this situation will resolve itself within the next two weeks or so, though the outcome is uncertain.
If you have contacts in China that you believe may be helpful to us drop me an email at david@hodr.org and I'll follow up.
We had a pleasant HODR social event in Boston ( again, I know....) June 11th, including a helpful open discussion forum during that afternoon. About 20 were on hand for the afternoon, and about 50 for the evening.
Some take-aways: need more geographic balance, and weekend events would allow more traveling/workers to participate. So, we will have our next event in Portland, OR sometime in early October, trying to be sensitive to day-of-week. Eventually we would like to have a get-together about every 6 months, moving them around the country (-ies, any votes from NZ or UK?)
Comments at the meeting complimented HODR on our traditional transparency re financials, but suggested more openness around hiring, management decisions, etc. We'll try to use this vehicle, and maybe the volunteer newsletter, to accomplish that. The general sense was that we don't send TOOOO many e-mails, though we worry when we pack a deployment announcement on top of other stuff, but we'll try to stay sensible.
Another obvious suggestion ( duh) was to allow those who couldn't attend to send in questions, so we'll do that next time; also we'll be sending out a satisfaction survey ( are we becoming too corporate?) so we can tell the skeptics that "our people" really do like our minimalist model.
We have just completed a job search to replace Paula Ogletree, who made a personal decision to return home to Atlanta. Beca Howard, who's been a great HODR (and Persevere) volunteer and project#2 over the past 3 years will become our Communications Manager, and bring her experienced perspective to volunteer dialogue, plus fund raising activities with vols and with the public. Teryn Weintz is our first Director of Development, and will concentrate on introducing our model to foundations, corporations, and major individual donors. Our overall plan is to raise sufficient funds to increase our project capacity, eventually to the point that we have projects available, in major geographic areas, at all times! We'll talk more about those plans, and why, in future blogposts.
Lastly, Marianna, and others at the June event, opined that we don't have to update this blog every week for it to be helpful, but we'll commit to at least monthly, and see how that goes.
Keep your cards and letters coming, send info@hodr.org updated email addresses, and I hope to see you at a project soon.
davidC
Thursday, January 24, 2008
small world
(from marc in bangladesh)
a few days ago one of our volunteers ('allia' from australia) was walking through the market when she encountered another foreigner. being that this isnt common they struck up a conversation. after an exchange of pleasantries and contact information they bid each other farewell. i followed up with an introductory email referring him to our website and inviting him to join us at our base in rayenda any time he (or his colleagues) might be in our area. i am always eager to make people connections, always looking for a "fit" for HODR, always looking for "that meeting" (where we exit high-fiving over the future success of our affiliation).
i didnt hear from allias' contact. then, one day as i was working, my phone rang displaying an unrecognized number. it is risky to have a cell phone here. "friends" call. the typical dialog is as follows: "HELLO?, hello. THIS IS RAKIB, IS THIS MARC? this is marc.. HELLO. HOW ARE YOU?, i am fine, how are you?HELLO WHERE, HELLO, MARC? WHERE ARE YOU? i am working. WHERE ARE YOU? i am in rayenda. OK BYE. ok, bye rakib, OK BYE" in this case i answer, it is a western voice (easy conversation), the voice of clint (from america) and we have a great conversation. it seems we may have similar interests and establish a meeting time for the next day.
during our meeting we find more and more common ground. his "team" (banded together by profession but based all over) has been assessing in bagerhat division and especially sharonkohla upazila. they have small projects that they might be able to fund, but are concerned about implementation. they are wary of local contractors. their funding would go much farther if they didnt have all the labor costs and the difficulties over poor project management. the excitement is growing, there is eye contact that indicates a kinship. i ask about funding, connections, short term plans, long term plans... all of the usual talking points. there is a connection of kindered spirts who are striving to do the right thing, to help, to help those who need it most, without the need for credit or recognition, to do it because it needs to be done. it is eery and gooseflesh inducing.
in my mind i have a question, that with the right answer, will be the cement to hold a team effort together. if i was playing cards, i had an ace, or a one-eyed jack and it was time to play it.
"so, clint hanna, you mentioned working in cambodia, do you know piper campbell?" he replied "yes, she is a rising star and she is my boss!" my reply is obvious to those reading this....."piper campbell is your 'boss' and her father is my 'boss', he is the co-founder of our NGO."
small world, sometimes to the point of inducing tears.
a few days ago one of our volunteers ('allia' from australia) was walking through the market when she encountered another foreigner. being that this isnt common they struck up a conversation. after an exchange of pleasantries and contact information they bid each other farewell. i followed up with an introductory email referring him to our website and inviting him to join us at our base in rayenda any time he (or his colleagues) might be in our area. i am always eager to make people connections, always looking for a "fit" for HODR, always looking for "that meeting" (where we exit high-fiving over the future success of our affiliation).
i didnt hear from allias' contact. then, one day as i was working, my phone rang displaying an unrecognized number. it is risky to have a cell phone here. "friends" call. the typical dialog is as follows: "HELLO?, hello. THIS IS RAKIB, IS THIS MARC? this is marc.. HELLO. HOW ARE YOU?, i am fine, how are you?HELLO WHERE, HELLO, MARC? WHERE ARE YOU? i am working. WHERE ARE YOU? i am in rayenda. OK BYE. ok, bye rakib, OK BYE" in this case i answer, it is a western voice (easy conversation), the voice of clint (from america) and we have a great conversation. it seems we may have similar interests and establish a meeting time for the next day.
during our meeting we find more and more common ground. his "team" (banded together by profession but based all over) has been assessing in bagerhat division and especially sharonkohla upazila. they have small projects that they might be able to fund, but are concerned about implementation. they are wary of local contractors. their funding would go much farther if they didnt have all the labor costs and the difficulties over poor project management. the excitement is growing, there is eye contact that indicates a kinship. i ask about funding, connections, short term plans, long term plans... all of the usual talking points. there is a connection of kindered spirts who are striving to do the right thing, to help, to help those who need it most, without the need for credit or recognition, to do it because it needs to be done. it is eery and gooseflesh inducing.
in my mind i have a question, that with the right answer, will be the cement to hold a team effort together. if i was playing cards, i had an ace, or a one-eyed jack and it was time to play it.
"so, clint hanna, you mentioned working in cambodia, do you know piper campbell?" he replied "yes, she is a rising star and she is my boss!" my reply is obvious to those reading this....."piper campbell is your 'boss' and her father is my 'boss', he is the co-founder of our NGO."
small world, sometimes to the point of inducing tears.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Project Pisco goes out in style
Like many things that HODR does if you didn’t know any better you would probably think we planned it all…well we did…in a kind of plan as you go spur of the moment kind of way.
106 volunteers gathered along side 25 Pisco community members at HODR’s favorite Pisco restaurant, site of our famed “Meat Club”, As de Oro’s.
Volunteers paraded down the buffet line with mountains of food somehow even leaving left overs!
We then held a different type of All Hands Meeting this one had a wireless mic and huge PA system. Individual volunteers introduced community members and thanked them for their efforts to help HODR and their community. Our local friends then addressed the volunteers (with Leah translating).
Some friends offered prayers, others tears but all expressed how eternally grateful they are for our work to help them recover.
Like “angels from the sky” HODR volunteers descended upon Pisco one local remarked. Project Pisco will close its doors shortly having hosted 500+ angels from the sky.
106 volunteers gathered along side 25 Pisco community members at HODR’s favorite Pisco restaurant, site of our famed “Meat Club”, As de Oro’s.
Volunteers paraded down the buffet line with mountains of food somehow even leaving left overs!
We then held a different type of All Hands Meeting this one had a wireless mic and huge PA system. Individual volunteers introduced community members and thanked them for their efforts to help HODR and their community. Our local friends then addressed the volunteers (with Leah translating).
Some friends offered prayers, others tears but all expressed how eternally grateful they are for our work to help them recover.
Like “angels from the sky” HODR volunteers descended upon Pisco one local remarked. Project Pisco will close its doors shortly having hosted 500+ angels from the sky.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
what do you think of......
...when someone says 'playground'?
for me it is the children (everywhere!) and the equipment.
in bangladesh it is 50% different.
the children: laughing, running, screaming, climbing, jumping, shouting, pushing, falling, skipping, whistles blowing, teachers torso looming high above the beehive of activity.
the equipment: swings. big banks of swings set high on sturdy a frame with children pushing their feet up to dizzying heights and slashing backwards so high that the chains bow and then jerk at the fall. tall slides with their upright back and curved graceful chute where the shiny slide pan has been polished by the seatpants of the masses. teeter-totters where the heavier child (or children) has the lighter child (or group) dynamically outweighed and will only at their mercy push up to let the other down. and a dizzying carousel whose occupants are spun off only to stand staggering between nausea and hysteria. and monkey bars, and hopscotch routes, and tire traps, and basketball hoops, and, and, and......
but, there is no playground equipment here.
oddly, in our assessment of the schools, most of the headmasters dont even know what the pieces are. maybe they have seen photos of a slide or have visited dhaka and seen a swing-set, but they would never think of having such things at their school.
the things we take for granted.
marc, from the playground in, bangladesh
for me it is the children (everywhere!) and the equipment.
in bangladesh it is 50% different.
the children: laughing, running, screaming, climbing, jumping, shouting, pushing, falling, skipping, whistles blowing, teachers torso looming high above the beehive of activity.
the equipment: swings. big banks of swings set high on sturdy a frame with children pushing their feet up to dizzying heights and slashing backwards so high that the chains bow and then jerk at the fall. tall slides with their upright back and curved graceful chute where the shiny slide pan has been polished by the seatpants of the masses. teeter-totters where the heavier child (or children) has the lighter child (or group) dynamically outweighed and will only at their mercy push up to let the other down. and a dizzying carousel whose occupants are spun off only to stand staggering between nausea and hysteria. and monkey bars, and hopscotch routes, and tire traps, and basketball hoops, and, and, and......
but, there is no playground equipment here.
oddly, in our assessment of the schools, most of the headmasters dont even know what the pieces are. maybe they have seen photos of a slide or have visited dhaka and seen a swing-set, but they would never think of having such things at their school.
the things we take for granted.
marc, from the playground in, bangladesh
Monday, December 24, 2007
Briefing from Biloxi, and Happy Holidays to the HODR family
post from DavidC. Had a great visit back to Biloxi, to celebrate the opening of the new Coastal family Health clinic, that so many HODR vols helped to make possible. While the funding for the facility came from the SSBG ( Social Srvices Block Grant) it's fair to say that the exposure Coastal got from the May 2006 Moss Point clinic opening, which dozens of vols contributed to, plus the sustaining work of the team that dealt with FEMA, IT issues, etc...all made this result possible. I was invited to speak, on behalf of all Hands On Folks, and recognized Nate Herrold, whose efforts were extraordinary, plus Kris Cyr, good friend Jack Blanks, and thanked the Coastal CEO, Joe Dawsey, for embracing our efforts. AND took the opportunity to name dozens of other volunteers who chipped in; yes I remembered you ALL!
Also got a chance to catch up with the REALLY LONG TERMERS, those HOUSA folks who are still helping out in Biloxi more than two years later. Amy, Jamie, Beau and Becca, Deubs, and others, who are living in Biloxi and carrying on great contributions.
Joined up with my "other family" to celebrate the holidays, and had a nice week with 15 family, including 6 grandchildren....
Will cycle down to Peru in January, then to back to Bangladesh in February.
To all the Hands On family, please have a wonderful holiday season, and thank you for being who you are!
David
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)